I saw very few threads regarding caliper painting/color options (it seems there are relatively few options in general!), so I figured I'd create one.

Finding caliper colors that match the paint of a vehicle closely has been a very difficult task. While there are plenty of paint matching option out there, few or none are rated for caliper temperatures.
I heard somewhere that you can use regular automotive paint on calipers (which would make this much easier), but I've heard much more frequently to use only temperature rated paint. Please let me know how long standard automotive paint on calipers, if at all.



Personally, I am looking for a very dark red for my calipers on my black 2000 Corvette. Something that resembles the dark red of the rear side/taillights would be perfect.


So far I've come up with the following:

https://a.co/d/1ClZIFd - Certainly overkill on the temperature rating, and a little dull for my taste, but it should match the lights fairly well.

https://a.co/d/7PoPitf - Cheaper and better gloss, but will not match the lights as well.

https://a.co/d/dKSriq4 - This would be a perfect color, if they only made it temperature rated!

I find it difficult to judge the colors based on their listings, as they almost always differ from the shade in the pictures. I like the automotive paint options, as looking up pictures of the color gives an idea of how it will look in many settings, and on different vehicles/objects.

Thank you in advance!
-WW

 

The temperature issue is relative to how you drive. If you’re just running around town Krylon will hold up. If you’re running up and down mountains, brakes are going to be pretty hot. Racing? Caliper specific paint may not cut it.

 

Interesting, i don't plan on doing any mountain climbing or racing, but maybe it's worth getting the 1200°F stove paint just in case/for the future. It's not that much more expensive.

Hopefully I can do everything without having to take the calipers off, might as well do pads too!

 

Several threads over time on painting while on the car. I haven’t done mine yet, primarily due to dread of breaking the banjos loose.

 

Just my humble opinion, but everyone has red calipers. If my car was black, I'd go light blue, maybe even orange.

 

I went with powder coating instead of paint. You can get it in almost any color, and it is going to be much more durable. You will need to remove the calipers for that. However, I would argue that you need to remove them to "properly" paint them anyway.

 

Blue looks AWESOME on Black, white and Silver cars IMO! If you haven't yet, maybe bleed/flush your brake before you make them all nice! My fluid was crap and it is a pretty easy job to do-

 

Yellow for my white car....

 

I agree, the bright red that people usually use is too flashy for me. I'm thinking of going with a really dark red to match the lens' for the taillights and side markers.

Blue would be cool as well, maybe a darker blue for me. I prefer a more subtle color, plus the rims are chrome so I think a contrasting color would work better.

 

Check these guys out, will give ya some ideas

https://g2usa.com/collections/chevrolet

 

Dark blue would defintely look good as well. Now I can't decide! Anyone have an dark blue and/or dark red calipers they have pictures of?

If I end up removing them to paint/powder coat, which I probably will, I'll have to bleed them anyway.
I'll have to take each wheel off and put it back on, with just the transmission holding her in place as I can't leave it on the lift for too long.

 

you have plenty of choice if you want to do it in place, and I second MWWarlord it is easier if you take them away, because to clean them properly you’d have to roll yourself on the ground.
https://www.foliatec.com/en/brake-ca...et?number=2220
TCFS

 

I can't believe I didn't find this! All I could find was generic colors (bright red, black, yellow, etc).

I'm thinking one of these:
Dark Red (Tin Roof Rusted Metallic) - WA138X-G7P
*Dark Red (Light Toreador Metallic) - 53 WA307D
Dark Blue (Arrival Blue) - 91 WA815K
Dark Blue (Chevrolet Superior Blue Metallic) - 22 WA703J

I much prefer when the color corresponds to a vehicle color, its so hard to tell what it really looks like based on the seller's pictures. Being able to find a variety of vehicles on Google shows you exactly what it really looks like!

​​​​​​​I'm really leaning towards the light toreador red.

 

Yeah, to do it properly they should probably be taken apart and sand blasted...
Anyone have experience with different prepping methods and how they looked/lasted afterwards? My calipers look pretty beat up as they sit now.

Looks like I've got another reason to buy a sandblaster, now I just need to find the time!

 

You can also have them done by someone else, I think TPS will send you the powder coated renovated when you send them yours as cores.

 

Man, there sure are some cool colors there.....

 

They can also add a top layer of clear to give it depth. I have a silver car and was leaning toward silver/clear with black lettering…

All depends on the impact factor. I wanted something you may not notice at 20’, but at 10’ one might start to think, hey those calipers look pretty trick. The stock color is simply ugly.

It’s not cheap, though. $399 per set, so that’s $800+tax+shipping, so the spray paint starts to sound better.

https://www.tpsmotorsports.com/test2...acket-set.html

 

These were on my C4 (C5 conversion), now on a friends C4 after the wreck.

 

Shifter, how'd you paint the corvette lettering - looks perfect...

 

By hand, with the Dupli-Color caliper paint. I don't know if I could do it these days....(old)